History of the Democratic Republic of the Pacific
Roots and Formation: 1964 - 1973 The movement saw its roots in 1964 with the deposition of Nikita Khrushchev as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union by his protégé Leonid Brezhnev. Openness and anti-censorship reforms were halted, and subsequently reversed by Brezhnev's leadership. Mikhail Zakharov, a resident of Vladivostok in 1964 after completing four years of naval service, supported Khrushchev's reforms after much dissent within the Pacific-stationed naval forces where most of the servicemen had some from oppressed minorities in the East. In 1966, Zakharov formed a social organization in Vladivostok opposing Brezhnev and the Communist Party, comprised of many former naval men. Later that year, the CPSU and Soviet Interior Ministry cracked down on the organization and its members; they relocated to Ussuriysk - a small town north of Vladivostok. After living in Leningrad for three years, Zakharov returns in 1969 to form the Progressive Party of the Pacific. Incorporating ideals of the New Left in Western Europe and the United States, Zakharov promoted openness, anti-censorship, responsible socialism, new-age Marxism, and a rapprochement to the Cold War. The Party remained in obscurity for a couple of years while their leaders organized. In early-1971, Gennady Yanayev, a member of the Party's Central Committee was arrested by the Interior Ministry of the Soviet Union. He was not heard from again. On 20 June 1971, the Progressive Party declared the Republic of the Pacific as a sovereign nation within the Soviet Union. A provisional government was established with Progressive members forming the Pacifican Deliberative Assembly as the nation's legislature. They elected Zakahrov their first president. Receiving support from the United States covertly, the Pacifican government was able to evade from Soviet authorities. Throughout 1971 and 1972 however, the Soviet government established fake dissident movements in the area to attract people to them to arrest them for political crimes against the State. The Progressive Party remained the only legitimate organization, however dangerous to belong to. On 29 June 1972, shortly following the Republic of the Pacific's one year anniversary, Mikhail Zakharov called for the organization and convening of the 1st Constitutional Committee to form a formal government and replace the provisional one. Two more committees would be convened, a second and a third. Through nearly a year of debate and drafting, the Constitution of the Democratic Republic of the Pacific was ratified on 14 February 1973. Thus, the Democratic Republic of the Pacific was established. Establishment and Presidency of Mikhail Zakharov: 1973 - 1977 Between 15 February and 30 September 1973, the Pacifican Republic had no formal government. On 15 September 1973, the Progressive Party of the Pacific staged a sweeping victory at the polls and elected Mikhail Zakharov as president and a supermajority of the Party in the First National Assembly. On 3 October 1973, the Pacifican Government Organization was formed as the formal organization that handled the government's activities, affairs, and finances. This organization was covertly supported by the United States to promote dissent within the Soviet Union. During the first year however, far-left elements of the Progressive Party emerged, wanting to return to the New Left ideals originally promoted at the Party moved more to the center and more bluntly anti-Soviet. During this time, President Zakharov established formal relations with the United States and President Richard Nixon - unbeknown to the rest of the government. Vietnam Affair: 1974-1975 On 7 June 1974, rebelling against his Party's politics, Zakharov outlawed the practice of the dominance of the Progressive Party in the nation's political society. Many feared then the Progressive Leftists, the far-left elements of the party, would split and form their own opposition. Their leader, Vladimir Torlopov assured no split would occur to divide the party. On 12 August 1974, President Nixon resigns, and throughout the late-summer, funding to the Pacifican Government Organization is cut. Budget deficits appear in the organization's budgeting plans as a continual influx of money is suddenly lost without reason. Questions are raised about this sudden loss of money, first widely reported in the Pacifican tabloid paper Iska. Iska stated that banking accounts and cash reserves were present in the Embassy of the United States in Vietnam, and that this money was used to fund Pacifican Government Organization activities. On 26 September 1974, after this report comes out, President Zakharov firmly denies such allegations, however, the Progressive Leftists in the National Assembly motion for an investigation by the Interior Ministry on 30 September. The motion is defeated. On 3 October, President Zakharov is reported to have told the Interior Ministry not to conduct any investigations into the budget or risk firings and heavy budget cuts. Throughout the Autumn of 1974, the Progressive Leftists increasingly acted more like an opposition party to the Progressives. They motioned time and time again for an investigation by the Interior Ministry, and threated to impeach Interior Minister Ivan Bakurov. All motions were defeated, over and over. On 13 January 1975, Progressive Leftist members of the Council of Ministers handed in their letters of resignation to Chairman Oleg Chirkunov. Chirkunov outright denied their resignations and ordered the ministers to resume their jobs; the ministers do not stay at their posts. Two days later, Interior Minister Ivan Bakurov resigns from the Council of Ministers, much to the protest of the Chairman and President Zakharov. The President nominates Gennady Zhemonky a day later, but is denied on 29 January 1975 by a now-majority Progressive Leftist National Assembly. On 4 February 1975, Vladimir Ustinov is nominated as a compromise, and is approved by the National Assembly as the next Interior Minister. On 30 March 1975, Oleg Chirkunov isn't re-elected for a second term as Chairman of the Council of Ministers. Instead Vladimir Ustinov is elected Chairman. On 2 April, Chairman Ustinov launches an internal investigation in the usage and origination of funds for the Pacifican Government Organization. The report, released less than a month later on 1 May 1975, concluded that the President had secretly obtained funds from the United States government to support activities and programs organized by the Progressive Party of the Pacific and the Pacifican Government Organization. These funds were obtained through the usage of small civil planes and ships in US-controlled South Vietnam; the money being wired from the United Stated federal government to its embassy in South Vietnam. It was also concluded that during the Autumn of 1974, the President actively tried to cover up any investigation attempts. In what was deemed the Vietnam Affair Report, it was the polarizing moment that created the United Pacifican Left party out of the Progressive Leftist movement within the Progressive Party of the Pacific on 6 May 1975. Chairman Ustinov's cabinet, 1975-1976 After coming to power in 1975, Vladimir Ustinov ordered resignations of select Progressive ministers. Of the four ministries in the Council of Ministers at the time (Defense, Education, Foreign Affairs, Interior), all were Progressive. Upon coming to power, Ustinov gathered a power base of three out of the four ministries. The Defense Ministry was left to Progressive Joseph Chaikev, in coordination with the Pacifican Government Organization. Ustinov reorganized the Council of Ministers and made it more independent from the the Pacifican Government Organization, whereas previously, the Organization worked closely with the Council of Ministers to carry out other responsibilities and state services. Chairman Ustinov issued the 1975-76 Manifesto of the Left, where he along with the United Pacifican Left, declared that by 1978, the Pacifican Government Organization would be dismantled and that all state services would be conducted by the Council of Ministers. Progressives protested this decree, saying that the Leftist plan created for a stronger central government instead of delegating it to the independently Progressive-ran organization. Leftists countered in saying that a political party should not carry out state services, and that it reflected the model of the Soviet state-party system. President Zakharov stated that as long as he was president, that the Organization would exist as a system to assist the people of the Pacific. Tensions between Zakharov with Ustinov and his Leftist delegates in the National Assembly continued on throughout 1975 as the Leftist bloc would continually delay votes proposed by Progressive delegates. The creation of the Ministry for State Affairs on 4 June 1975 prompted Progressive delegates to nearly protest the Leftist Council of Ministers. Zakharov told Progressive Party delegates to start a campaign to join Ustinov's cabinet, hoping to sabotage any Leftist agenda he might bring to the Council of Ministers. Ustinov proposed four delegates from the Leftist Party, but all were denied by a united Progressive bloc. Ustinov chose Progressive Sergei Ivanov, a former member of the Leftist Caucus, to become the new Minister for State Affairs. He was accepted down near party-lined vote. The Ministry for State Affairs dealt with the Pacifican Government Organization under the table, keeping them afloat while Ustinov's Leftist Interior Ministry attempted to crack down on Organization programs. Ivanov was routinely excluded from meetings of the Council of Ministers as the delegates from the Left planned government agenda. President Zakharov too, once heavily involved in Chirkunov's Council from 1973 to 1975, was excluded from meetings. In response, the Progressive Party organized meetings with the "Pacifican people". Open meetings throughout the Fall and early-Winter of 1975 were held, where Pacifican speakers and officials routinely spoke to people criticizing the Leftist expansion of government and failure to provide adequate state services with the cutting of funds to the Pacifican Government Organization. These campaigns were successful as public opinion swayed away from Vladimir Ustinov and the Leftist Party as Zakharov, Ivanov, and Defense Minister Chaikev spoke about the exclusion from government policy meetings and constant Leftist abuse of power in the National Assembly. Chairman Vladimir Ustinov ordered the police of the Interior Ministry to break up all meetings in August 1975, and when this failed per order of President Zakharov. Claiming executive power abuse, Ustinov attempted to bring forth impeachment proceedings to President Zakharov, but they were immediately voted down in the National Assembly. Ustinov then ordered the United Pacifican Left to protest outside Progressive open meetings, and to disrupt them as much as possible. Zakharov allowed for this, as he used it to publish articles in the Party's paper about how the Leftists were "childish" and "partisan - not for the people". Such campaigns worked effectively as Ustinov was now closing in on the deadline where the National Assembly would have to renew him as Chairman of the Council of Miniters. After the slim victory of the Progressives in the elections for the IInd National Assembly, Ustinov knew that his term could possibly be drawing to a close. Withdrawing his partisans from the Progressive meetings in October 1975. A lot of the damage had already been done as the Leftists, headed by Vladimir Ustinov, has slipped to 43% approval while the Progressives and Zakharov had gained the lead to 45%. Ustinov, including President Zakharov and the Progressives, convened a meeting of the Council of Ministers on 25 October 1975 to discuss new programs and forming a more unified legislature. In this meeting, Ustinov called for three demands: the Progressive party to end its open house meetings slamming the United Pacifican Left party, for the State Affairs Ministry to end its relationship with the Pacifican Government Organization, and for a compromise in the reelection of his office in March 1976. He called for the five ministries to be split 3-2, in the Progressives' favor is Ustinov was guaranteed electoral victory. Ustinov claimed that if he wasn't elected, the Leftists would not support the succeeding Progressive administration. Zakharov rejected the terms offered to him. He claimed that the Government Organization was an essential part to the functions and effectiveness of the Pacifican state. The President also went on to say that the open house meetings are apart of democratic politics, and that to end them would be undemocratic and give tacit approval by the state for backroom deals between officials. Zakharov assured Ustinov that the Pacific was a united nation, and that if he was leading his party to revolt against a Progressive government, that the republic would not last into the next decade. The Central Committee of the Progressive Party of the Pacific told its delegates in the National Assembly to stay united and override the Leftists' ability to pass decrees. Because of this decree, and the Progressives' 52% majority in the Assembly, Leftist acts were blocked over and over. Ustinov released a statement demanding Zakharov's Progressives in the Assembly work with the Leftists or have them walk out of the legislature. Zakharov then told his party to work actives with Leftist delegates, but to not pass any acts. Throughout November and December 1975, the Progressive delegates worked with the Leftists, but in every vote, their acts were turned down. Zakharov stated that "time and time again, the Leftists in the Assembly have been uncooperative with Progressive delegates, and that is why we must turn down their decrees. It's not politics, but a simple failure of the opposition party in the legislature to work with the majority party delegates. Chairman Ustinov told us that we should work with them on new acts, and here they have failed to live up to what they promised us". The United Pacifican Left, as a collective entity, released a counter-statement saying that the President was lying and that they were "partisan attempts to undermine the Leftists in the Assembly to lead up to the disposition of comrade Chairman Ustinov". Return of Oleg Chirkunov, 1976-1977 Category:Democratic Republic of the Pacific